A variety of cervical traction apparatus have been proposed. Older devices such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,831,482 utilize head slings which were secured around the patient's chin. These slings or head halters are not only uncomfortable but, during traction, place a substantial amount of force on the chin, sometimes causing discomfort to the patient's temporomandibular joints. Still other traction apparatus allows traction to be centered at the back of the patient's head or in the occipital area such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,166,459 and 4,508,109. However, such prior devices do not provide for sufficient flexibility in the angular placement and location of the patient's head during supine traction where variation about both horizontal and vertical axes is desirable or important in the traction therapy. Thus, for example, although the apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,109 provides for "side bending" whereby the patient's head is angled about a generally vertical axis to achieve "unilateral" traction, the apparatus carriage is not movable or rotatable about a horizontal axis for spinal axis rotation. It is to the improvement of such cervical traction apparatus in providing not only horizontal plane traction angles but also spinal axis rotation angles in a vertical plane that the present invention is directed.